People behind Swiss Innovation
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Dominik Bell, Aeon CEO, at the Swiss Technological Award in 2014.

Green light to Alumnus Aeon Scientific to launch its Aeon Phocus

Do. 30.07.2015, 09:00

Aeon Scientific announces that it has received the CE Mark approval for the Aeon Phocus, an electromagnetic system to steer ablation catheters for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. More than one in a hundred people are affected by cardiac arrhythmias. The product is now available throughout Europe where more than one thousand clinics currently perform cardiac ablation procedures....Read more

“CE mark approval of the Aeon Phocus is a major milestone for Aeon Scientific”, stated Dominik Bell, CEO of Aeon Scientific. “With our product we want to improve ablation procedures that a quarter of a million patients per year undergo in Europe. We are now excited to see how the result of our efforts can be put to use and help to improve outcomes for many patients.”

The system supports electrophysiologists during catheter ablation procedures for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, such as Atrial Fibrillation. It allows the physician to move the ablation catheter within the heart of the patient with magnetic fields. With the improved control and the high intuitiveness and dexterity that the system provides the company intends to improve procedures for the benefit of patients and healthcare providers.

In the long-term it is the company’s objective to turn the Aeon Phocus into a platform for remotely controlling multiple types of interventional instruments such as catheters, guide wires and endoscopes. Based on this successful milestone Aeon Scientific is currently fundraising to finance the broader market launch in Europe and to achieve product approval in additional regions worldwide.

In 2014, Aeon Scientific closed a financing round of CHF 4.3 million and won the Swiss Technological Award. In 2011, the ETH spin-off based in Schlieren won the Venture Kick final. The same year, Dominik Bell, its CEO, was part of the Swiss national startup team in Boston to learn more about the opportunities of market offered in the USA for his company.

Aeon is also one of the best Swiss startups (startup.ch) of Switzerland in 2014.

Amal Therapeutics publishes R&D findings in Cancer Research

Do. 23.07.2015, 17:00

TOP100 2014, 2012 venture leader USA and Venture Kick alumnus Amal Therapeutics recently announced that part of its recent research findings about a new type of recombinant
protein cancer vaccines has been published on-line on the Cancer Research's website....Read more

The publication underlines the value of a novel immunotherapy class able to simultaneously inducing multi-epitopic immunity, T helper functions and immunologic memory. The article shows that vaccines tested are able to significantly prolonged survival in three robust tumor models. “The results published are demonstrating the proof of concept and showing the strength of Amal’s platform for the development of potent, safe and efficacious cancer vaccines”, said Dr. Derouazi, CEO of Amal Therapeutics. “Having the outcome of our work published in Cancer Research is a great success and a value recognition of the scientific approach taken since Amal’s incorporation in 2012”, added Dr. Derouazi.

Amal Therapeutics is a privately held Swiss/German biotech startup company and spin-off from the University of Geneva, incorporated in September 2012. Amal uses its proprietary cell penetrating peptide platform to develop and progress therapeutic vaccines in oncology.

In 2012, Amal CEO Madiha Derouazi traveled to Boston with the Swiss national startup team. The startup also entered the TOP100 Swiss startups ranking (startup.ch/top100) in 2014. Amal Therapeutics is also a Venture Kick alumni.

Aurélien Rizk, Martin Ostermaier and Luca Zenone have many different personal and professional skills and form a really motivated team.

"InterAx technology will allow discriminating between good and bad drug candidates in order to start clinical trials with higher probability to succeed."

Mi. 22.07.2015, 09:00

The ETH and PSI spin-off InterAx Biotech won the second stage of Venture Kick and its CHF 20’000 of pre-seed capital, in June 2015. We interviewed co-founder Martin Ostermaier, a biochemist, inventor and an ETH pioneer fellow about the great news - and about Interax's plans for the future....Read more

Are you happy to have won the second stage of Venture Kick?
Yes of course we are happy! The Venture Kick jury saw the potential of InterAx during the first stage and decided to support the team. Winning the second stage confirms that we have made an important step, which is converting the business idea into a solid business case. We are now in the third round also because we have improved in communicating both the value of our biotech product for the customer and the business case to a very heterogeneous group of experts.

What kind of technology are you developing?
Nine of ten drug candidates never reach the market, this costs Pharma each year billions of francs. InterAx technology will allow selecting better drug candidates with higher chance to succeed for approval; that means more drugs eventually reach the market and improve patients’ lives. We focus on GPCRs, which are the biological target of 40% of all modern drugs. Currently, Pharma still lacks information in understanding how drugs act on GPCRs leading to underinformed decisions for choosing the right drug candidates. InterAx develops reagents, cell lines and software that together improve efficiency of drug discovery for GPCRs.

What stage is your startup today and what do you plan next?
InterAx Biotech is currently spinning off the ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, where the technology has been developed. It is seed-funded and supported by both institutions. Currently, we are implementing the technology at PSI in a first product, which will facilitate drug discovery for treating ocular diseases. On the business side we are very active in customer visits, discussions with investors and industry experts. Collecting their feedbacks allows us to better align our product development strategy with current market needs.

How did the idea of InterAx Biotech come up?
During his PhD, Martin worked on the stabilization of a protein complex consisting of a GPCR and another protein. At some point, we realized that we had a unique and novel technology in our hands that we protected by filing a patent application. The ETH Pioneer Fellowship gave then the financial support and access to a great network of experts and entrepreneurs for starting a business right after. The name InterAx is a blend word between the words “interaction” and “arrestin” and reflects the mechanism on which the technology is based on.

What distinguishes your technology from your competitors’?
A drug induces a very specific cellular signaling. “Good” and “bad” drug candidates can be discriminated by the cellular signaling that they induce. While good drug candidates induce signaling that leads only to the desired effect in the patient, bad ones originate adverse effects. Competitive technologies do not allow to discriminate between good and bad drug candidates easily. They cannot dissect the complex signaling networks unambiguously. InterAx technology will allow discriminating between good and bad drug candidates in order to start clinical trials with higher probability to succeed.

Why did you apply for Venture Kick and what are the benefits of such a program for you?
Venture Kick is widely recognized as the best Startup advancement program in Switzerland. Since it is also known as an excellent pre-selection process for promising start-ups, passing the different stages is for us a certificate of quality. It gives credibility and visibility, and access to the highly interconnected Swiss Biotech network. Apart from the money, the Kickers Camps are the most important benefit for the entrepreneurs. During the camps we were challenged and forced to improve our business case by getting very direct and highly valuable feedback from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The lessons learned were essential and brought us faster and more focused forward.

In your opinion, how did you convince the jury on stage two?
This is an hard question to answer. Maybe at first the team with broad skillset, which was able to attract a unique advisory board. Second, the wide applicability of the IP-protected technology in different disease areas which allows us to scale up our business step by step and reach different markets. Third, we have already a marketable product prototype and a potential customer which is going to test it. Good results may lead to a larger volume of sales for InterAx, and the willingness of the potential customer to buy and test our second product. Finally, we showed that we could already convince investors and raise money for our startup.

And how do you think you will convince the jury at the final?
We think we need to work harder on some aspects of our business case and show faster execution. This means we need to make larger sales revenue by attracting more customers or increasing sales volume per project within the next six to eight months. A key goal is also to ensure R&D resources by raising funds for product development and attract skilled scientists into our team. In conclusion, we need to show that we can increase the value of InterAx Biotech.

Tell us something about you that nobody knows!
Maybe you already know that we speak three out of four Swiss official languages: German, French and Italian? However, we are used to communicate in English within our team. Or that Luca races at international Enduro mountain bike competitions around Europe? Or that Aurélien owns a software company that develops physics simulation applications for fun and education? This is the strong and very motivated team that is working to make InterAx a successful Swiss biotech start-up.

PIQUR Therapeutics raises CHF 18 Million in Series A2 financing

Mo. 20.07.2015, 17:00

PIQUR Therapeutics AG, a Swiss clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative anti-cancer drugs based on PI3K and mTOR inhibition, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed CHF 18 million (USD 19M) round of Series A2 financing. This round was backed by several existing investors, including Versant Ventures, as well as new, private investors....Read more

PIQUR Therapeutics AG, a Swiss clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative anti-cancer drugs based on PI3K and mTOR inhibition, announced the closing of an oversubscribed CHF 18 million (USD 19M) round of Series A2 financing on July 16, 2015.

This round was backed by several existing investors, including Versant Ventures, as well as new, private investors. The new funding brings the total capital raised by PIQUR to date to over CHF 55 million (USD 60M). The company plans to use the funding to further strengthen its operational basis and to extend the financing horizon for additional Phase 2 studies for its lead compound PQR309, which has shown preclinical activity in different aggressive cancer cell lines inhibiting the PI3K/mTOR pathway, as well as clinical activity in phase 1. In addition, the new funding will support the preclinical safety and first clinical studies for one of its follow-up compounds.

“We greatly appreciate the continued support provided by our existing shareholders and welcome our new investors who bring valuable perspective, experience, and capital resources to the company,” said Vladimir Cmiljanovic, CEO of PIQUR. Gaudenz von Capeller, PIQUR’s CFO, commented: “This financing strengthens our balance sheet as we work to achieve important milestones for our lead candidate as well as the follow-up compound.”

Helping patients to survive cancer
PIQUR aims to help patients to survive cancer. Two out of three people are now living at least five years after their cancer has been diagnosed. Despite of significant medical innovations in the treatment of cancer, there remains a high unmet medical need for therapies that prolong patients’ survival and improve their quality of life. PIQUR targets both PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), two key signaling molecules that are vital to several essential biological processes involved in malignant disease, such as cell growth, proliferation, survival and metastasis, making them attractive targets in cancer therapy.

About PQR309
PIQUR’s lead compound, PQR309, is a novel, oral, balanced pan- PI3K/mTOR inhibitor with excellent prospects to become a powerful anti-cancer drug. PQR309 compares favorably to current and clinically most advanced pan-PI3K/mTOR inhibitors with respect to the drug-like properties. Unlike most of its competitors, PQR309 crosses the blood-brain barrier, expanding its use to oncologic as well as hematologic malignant diseases involving the brain. PQR309 showed preclinical activity in different aggressive cancer cell lines inhibiting the PI3K/mTOR pathway, as well as clinical activity in phase 1.

About PIQUR
PIQUR is a Swiss clinical-stage pharmaceutical company incorporated in August 2011 as a spin-off of the University of Basel, focusing on the discovery and development of innovative anti-cancer drugs based on lipid kinase (PI3K) and mTOR inhibition. PIQUR’s pipeline originates from one of the most promising research areas in oncology. Both PI3K and mTOR are clinically validated drug targets in oncology. PIQUR has a secured patent scope protecting many chemical compounds.

PIQUR is a venturelab and a Venture Kick alumni. It is also ranked Nr 74 in the TOP100 Swiss startups of 2014: www.startup.ch/top100

Meet the latest winners of Venture Kick’ stage one.

Fr. 17.07.2015, 10:00

“Why would someone buy this?” is a question that can put new entrepreneurs in difficulty. Hopefully for the latest winners of Venture Kick stage one, MyPrivacy.Network, Technis and Biosynthetic drug optimization, things went pretty well. They won CHF 10’000 each and are getting ready to compete for the second round of Venture Kick, where they might win another CHF 20’000....Read more

EPFL startup MyPrivacy.Network develops a cloud based service with associated mobile App offering true privacy protection and management for user data posted on social media services (e.g. Facebook) and shared on the internet (e.g. by Email).

EPFL Innovation Park based startup Technis revolutionizes the way we interact with sports, starting with tennis, by introducing a new generation of integrated tactile intelligent tennis courts, giving every player in the world access to the power of technology and information.

ETH Zurich Biosynthetic drug optimization develops a platform that uses nature’s tools to make improved drug analogs that would not have been made previously. The start-up will offer this platform as a service and use it to make its own NCE drug candidates.

They won the second stage of Venture Kick

Fr. 17.07.2015, 10:00

The ETH Zurich startup xorlab and EPF Lausanne startup GlobalDiagnostiX just won the second stage of Venture Kick and its CHF 20’000 of pre-seed capital. With them, the detection and prevention of software attacks, or robust and low-cost digital radiography technology will maybe make their way to the market in the future, tackling important security and social issues....Read more

Appropriate medical imaging for developing countries GlobalDiagnostiX develops a novel X-ray technology specifically designed for the context of resource-poor settings. Two-thirds of humanity has still no access to medical diagnostic imaging. This first robust and low-cost digital radiography technology can reach large yet untapped markets, achieving both profitability and social impact.

Rudolf Griss, co-founder of Lucentix

Pius Kobler and Sven Rizzotti from Sport Components Ltd

When a single drop of blood and a small bikes’ tire valve bring Swiss innovation forward: Lucentix from EPF Lausanne and Sport Components Ltd. from Zurich kicked by CHF 130.000 each.

Di. 14.07.2015, 11:00

The EPFL spin-off Lucentix and the Zurich based startup Sport Components Ltd. received CHF 130’000 each, the maximum funding granted by Venture Kick. Lucentix develops a new biosensor technology allowing patients to measure themselves with just a single drop of blood and get quicker laboratory-quality results. Sport Components Ltd. provides an innovative solution to measure and refill sealant in tubeless bikes, and just announced a sales partnership with a US company. ...Read more

Today, diabetics can measure their blood sugar levels themselves using a simple glucose meter wherever they are and whenever they want to. Even though patient’ self-monitoring would be equally beneficial for a number of other diseases, most of these blood tests still require a diagnostic laboratory, trained personnel and expensive equipment.

Biosensor technology to make patient’ self-monitoring faster and cheaper
The EPFL Spin-off Lucentix develops a new biosensor technology that allows patients to measure the precise concentration of substances in a single drop of blood or saliva using an inexpensive handheld device, providing laboratory-quality results within minutes. As a first application, Lucentix is developing a self-monitoring solution for patients suffering from the metabolic disease phenylketonuria leading to irreversible severe mental disabilities, where blood levels have to be measured frequently to adjust a specific diet. “The best thing about Venture Kick is their extremely pragmatic and goal-oriented approach. It is not about learning MBA techniques, but about asking the right questions, putting you in charge and acting. Now our company’s goal is to finalize the development of our phenylketonuria self-monitoring system and test it on patients”, says Rudolf Griss, co-founder of Lucentix.

Watch the presentation video from Lucentix

Stressless innovation for tubeless bikes
The idea for the Zurich based Startup Sport Components Ltd. was born during a mountain bike trip, with a flat tubeless tire due to dried out sealant. The product development engineer from ETH Zurich and addicted mountain biker Pius Kobler decided to do something about it and invented milKit, a novel system that allows to measure and refill sealant in tubeless bicycle tires without having to release the air pressure. Together with another biking enthusiast and experienced entrepreneur, Sven Rizzotti, he founded Sport Components Ltd early 2015 and aims to provide mountain bikers and other athletes with innovative products.

Ready to conquer the North American market
“Our experience with Venture Kick was extremely stimulating and challenging. The most important thing that this project brought to our company was the feedback and input from experts”, says Pius Kobler. Sven Rizzotti adds: “It’s not only about financial support; it’s also about the sharing of expertise and motivation that occurs during the “kicker’s camps” after you showcase your project. This allows a sophisticated idea to become reality.” Above all Pius Kobler went as a member of the Swiss National Startup Team this June to Boston and New York. During the business development trip he agreed on a sales partnership with a US company to conquer the North American market with his innovative product.

Venture Kick finalist ActLight closes Series A funding

Fr. 10.07.2015, 10:00

ActLight SA, the creator of the next generation photo diode, has closed a Series A financing round with an investor group comprising of Swisscom Ventures and the business angel networks Investiere, Go Beyond and BAS....Read more

The 2012 Venture Kick winner and 2015 Swisscom StartUp Challenge finalists ActLight has developed a photo diode solution, which delivers significantly higher sensitivity combined with dramatically reduced power consumption as well as lower manufacturing and design costs. ActLight will leverage the new round of funding to continue enhancing its products and to further expand co-operation with partners and customers.

“ActLight’s Dynamic Photo Diode is the most powerful solution for low power, high sensitivity, and on-chip integration for new light sensing solutions for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and portable MedTech solutions. Low power consumption is key in solutions for heart rate measurement, gesture control and 3D sensing,” explains Serguei Okhonin, CEO and co-founder of ActLight. “Our investors share our vision to create the next generation of light sensing solutions and we are now entering the market with key industrial partners and customers,” commented Fredrik Uddegard, co-founder of ActLight.

“As mobile and wearable devices are getting ever more pervasive, the importance of light sensors to measure and interpret the surrounding environment will be fundamental to extend functionality and increase the user experience. With this Dynamic Photo Diode, we believe that Actlight has developed a truly disruptive solution, which will greatly benefit the advancement of personal computing,” said Pär Lange, Investment Director at Swisscom Ventures.

About ActLight SA
ActLight SA focuses in the field of CMOS photonics by developing new type of photodetectors and improving photovoltaic energy harvesting technology. Being a fabless company, ActLight specializes in the Intellectual Property (IP) of these areas and provides supporting services like design and technology advice for its customers. ActLight is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.

About Swisscom Ventures SA
Swisscom Ventures is the venture capital arm of Swisscom AG, the leading telecommunications and IT provider in Switzerland. Since its inception in 2007, they have invested in over 35 IT, digital media and telecommunication companies from our offices in Switzerland (Zurich and Lausanne) and the USA (Silicon Valley). As a strategic investor, they offer entrepreneurs access to our technical infrastructure and market channels in addition to financial support. www.swisscom.ch/en/ventures

About investiere
investiere is one of Europe’s leading online investment platforms. Since 2010, over 25 startups have used investiere to raise funds (over 10 million Swiss francs in total) from private investors with relevant industry expertise and networks. The +6'000 investiere community members identify the most promising investment opportunities which are then further reviewed by experts and the investiere-team. www.investiere.ch

More than 150 startups entered this year's Swisscom StartUp Challenge.

Swisscom StartUp Challenge: Who will make it to Silicon Valley?

Do. 09.07.2015, 09:00

More than 150 startups entered this year's Swisscom StartUp Challenge. Swisscom and venturelab have now selected the ten finalists, who want to conquer the global market with their innovative solutions. The following ten startups will compete against each other at the pitch event on 14 August.
...Read more

More than 150 startups from the fields of IT and telecommunications, big data, FinTech, e-commerce, smart mobility, e-health, media and cleantech industries entered this year's StartUp Challenge; of these, ten impressed the jury and thus got closer to their objective, Silicon Valley, to which Swisscom will be inviting five winners to participate in a business acceleration programme.

The 2015 finalists

The algorithm developed by 42matters analyses the apps that users have installed on their mobile devices and uses the information to calculate their demographic data and interests. Thanks to this anonymous user profile, advertisers and developers can get to know their target group better and send its members appropriate advertising or content in a more targeted way.

Archilogic creates digital, interactive 3D models of real estate interiors that can be explored and furnished directly in the browser. The 3D models require no software download, no app, or any previous knowledge and can easily be shared or embedded.

The Ava startup is devoted to nothing less than the revolution of conception and prenatal health. Based on a thorough understanding of human physiology, reproductive medicine, sensor technologies and big data analytics, Ava has developed a wearable device that helps couples become pregnant.

BestMile develops a cloud-based fleet management software that brings coherence to autonomous vehicle fleets by allowing them to be operated together as a public transportation system. The company focuses on the so-called «last mile», the journey from people’s homes to their nearest connection point to the public transport system. Private sites are also targeted.

Gamaya is active in the field of smart farming. The start-up develops a large-scale hyperspectral imaging and analytics solution. By analysing the data provided by the system, it is clear when a plant or the soil needs water or nutrients. With the help of this information, chemicals can be directed to where they are needed, diseases can be identified and harvests can be increased.

The Crowd app developed by the Gimalon start-up helps users organise their free time. It is very easy to organise a meeting with friends or a party using the app. It enables groups to communicate with each other and to decide what to do, as well as where and when to meet. Another benefit of the app is that it also serves as an events calendar and personal diary.

The Monetas start-up is developing a decentralised system that can be used to conduct all kinds of financial and legal transactions. In an innovative way, Monetas connects (Bitcoin) blockchain technology for secure deposit entry with a cryptographically secured P2P network for fast, low-cost global transactions.

Using the app developed by the MUUME start-up, consumers can shop, order and pay quickly, all in one go and always via the same check-out button - whether in a shop, restaurant, on the move or at home. As a commerce and multi-channel check-in/check-out solution, MUUME offers traders quick payment and simpler book-keeping.

The bioinformatics start-up SimplicityBio discovers multiple biomarker panels for pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies. As examples of applications, more accurate diagnostic tests can be developed and it is possible to evaluate which people respond better to a specific medicine.

InSphero, Nr. 1 Swiss Startup of the Top 100 Swiss Startup Rankings 2014 and the world's leading developer of easy-to-use solutions for organotypic 3D cell culture models and body-on-a-chip systems, has secured CHF 20 million in financing from the family investment office of a globally active entrepreneur represented through HP WILD HOLDING AG based in Zug, Switzerland. InSphero is using the Series C financing round to rapidly expand its global footprint, broaden its portfolio of novel 3D microtissues and contract research services for 3D drug safety and efficacy testing, and develop new products and applications based on its proven technology....Read more

Since its commercial launch in 2010, the company has experienced strong year-over-year sales growth marked by the rapid adoption of its 3D InSight™ microtissues and services by leading pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics companies. Since last year, large pharma organizations have begun converting from conventional assays to InSphero's 3D microtissues.

Dr. Jan Lichtenberg, CEO and co-founder of InSphero, says that the investment round enables InSphero to leverage the successful customer implementations, robust validation data, and growing scientific evidence to become the gold standard in the field of 3D cell-based assays.

The proceeds of the financing round will be invested to expand InSphero's North American scientific staff and operations into a state-of-the art bio-production facility; increase the variety of model systems available to customers across different industries; and to develop new products.

About InSphero
Founded in 2009, the privately held company is headquartered in Schlieren, Switzerland with subsidiaries in the United States (Brunswick, ME) and Waldshut, Germany. It has been recognized for its scientific and commercial achievements with a number of national and international awards. Right after InSphero having been named the #1 Swiss Startup in the Top 100 Swiss Startup Rankings 2014, it was recognized as winner of the 2014 ACES Life Sciences Award. Its clients are internationally recognised companies in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical sectors. This up-and-coming company benefited early on from support from the Venture Kick and venture leaders USA programs.

InSphero provides superior biological relevance to in vitro testing with its easy-to-use solutions for production, culture and assessment of more organotypic 3D cell culture models. The company's patented 3D cell culture platforms and methods enable large-scale, reproducible production of a broad range of assay-ready 3D InSight™ Microtissues derived from liver, pancreas, tumor, heart, brain and skin. These models and contract research services utilizing them help to identify promising drugs and toxic liabilities with greater predictivity at early development stages, enabling better pre-clinical decision making, saving development cost, and shortening time to market. This 3D know-how is now also being applied in the diagnostics field to aid development of personalized chemotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer.

TOP 100 Startups

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60 venture kickers made it to the TOP 100 startups

Each year, startup.ch launches the TOP 100 STARTUP AWARD in cooperation with the Handelszeitung. From over 100,000 young companies, the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups are picked by top startup experts.

venture leaders

venture leaders program – ten intense days in USA or China

Swiss startups ready to take over the World.

The venture leaders - the members of the Swiss national startup team- have a clear-cut goal. They envision themselves as global players and want to take the first step to their global expansion. The ten-day business development program is specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.

venture kick

Kick your startup idea to success with venture kick

venture kick helps potential entrepreneurs by giving them the opportunity to win up to CHF 130,000. Moreover, startups can also use the know-how of experienced experts and entrepreneurs and be granted access to a national network of investors.

venturelab workshops

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Learn from entrepreneurs and industry leaders

In the last 10 years venturelab alumni have raised several 100 millions from investors and built successful businesses. Now they are ready to share with the next generation of talented hightech startups.

Directory of active investors

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The investors in early stage Swiss startups

In the last 5 years the venture kick startups raised more than 365 millions. Following all these transactions we compiled and update the list of active startup investors in different fields and stages.

Institut für Jungunternehmen

The first address for Startups in Switzerland

More than 50.000 startups were accompanied by the IFJ. A little more then 25 years ago, we have made it our mission to guide these entrepreneurs on their way to successful businesses. So they can develop their role as a part of the Swiss economy.

Connecting the dots between Switzlerand and the world

Gioia Vichis Deutscher is the director of swissnex Brazil. After spending four years as the Haed of Startup and Innovation Services for swissnex San Francisco, Gioia Deutscher is now taking the lead in opening a new swissnex office in Brazil.

Each year, startup.ch launches the TOP 100 STARTUP AWARD in cooperation with the Handelszeitung. From over 100,000 young companies, the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups are picked by top startup experts.

venture kick helps potential entrepreneurs by giving them the opportunity to win up to CHF 130,000. Moreover, startups can use the know-how of experienced experts and entrepreneurs and be granted access to a network of investors.

The venture leaders have a clear-cut goal. They envision themselves as global players and want to take the first step to their global expansion. The ten-day business development program is specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.

More than 50.000 startups were accompanied by the IFJ. A little more then 25 years ago, we have made it our mission to guide these entrepreneurs on their way to successful businesses. So they can develop their role as a part of the Swiss economy.